Last October, Elliston Berry, a young freshman girl at a Texas high school, was shocked to discover a fellow student had used AI to create sexually explicit pictures of her, commonly called deepfakes. He had posted the fake nude pictures on Snapchat, a popular teen social media site, where her friends, classmates and strangers viewed these pictures.

The photos weren’t real, but the pain and humiliation victims like Elliston experience, is very real.

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Typically, the face of the victim, in this case Elliston’s, is seamlessly placed on the pornographic image of someone else. It looks incredibly real and can quickly spread like a virus from one phone to another.

As the pictures continued to circulate among her classmates, Elliston grew increasingly scared and anxious. “I didn’t even want to attend school,” she said.

Despite repeated requests from Elliston and her mother, Anna McAdams, Snapchat refused to take these images down. Eight months went by and still the deepfakes remained online. It wasn’t until Anna called Senator Ted Cruz’s office and he put in a phone call to Snapchat were the images of Elliston taken down.

In an interview with CBS News Texas Senator Cruz explained, “It shouldn’t take an elected member of Congress having to intervene. That’s not fair to a teenager who has been the victim of this. Thousands of young people have been victims of this deepfake porn. It’s incredibly frustrating and difficult for victims and parents to get these pornographic images taken down.”

He compared Elliston’s case to that of Taylor Swift, one of the most famous women in the world. In January, Taylor was a victim of deep fake sexual images of her on X (formerly Twitter). In just 17 hours, the pictures had received 45 million views. She demanded that the pictures be taken down and they were.

Senator Cruz points out that Taylor Swift is a global star, but for the ordinary person or young student, Big Tech ignores you. Senator Cruz wants to change that because an internet deepfake could happen to anyone.

It’s why he is proposing legislation to make sure that perpetrators who create these images suffer stiffer penalties and that social media platforms to take down the offending images.

It’s called The Take It Down Act and it would make it a felony to share non-consensual real images or images using this deepfake AI technology.

The person creating these images would face up to two years in prison for creating these deepfake images of an adult, or three years in prison for a minor.

It would also require social media companies such as Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and others to take down the images, along with any copies of the images, within 48 hours after receiving a request from a victim.

In his remarks on June 18, Senator Cruz said, “We have seen a staggering increase in exploitative sexual material online, largely due to predators taking advantage of new technology such as generative Artificial Intelligence. The Take It Down Act will protect and empower victims of non-consensual, intimate imagery by criminalizing its publication, making it unlawful for persons to put such content on social media.”

By using a simple app on their phone, predators can create fake explicit images depicting real people. According to Senator Cruz, deepfakes are especially targeting young girls. Up to 95% of all internet deepfakes are sexual imagery of women and girls.

With AI technology, the images are incredibly realistic. “It’s horrifically traumatizing and abusive,” says Senator Cruz. “The abuse and the trauma are ongoing because the pattern we’ve seen from Big Tech is to ignore the pleas of victims and their families.”

Elliston’s classmate who created the deepfakes received a short time on probation. Elliston’s mother Anna said, “When he’s 18, his record will be expunged, and he’ll go on with his life.”

Even though Snapchat took the photos down thanks to Senator Cruz’s intervention, they’re still saved on countless phones. Elliston will worry for the rest of her life when and where these deepfake images could resurface.

As a parent, Anna worries that these fake photos could resurface when Elliston applies for college or when she applies for a job. With the Take It Down Act, her hope is that other parents and children will not suffer what Elliston and her family have.

If the Take It Down Bill is passed, Anna and Elliston will have the comfort of knowing whoever does re-post these deepfake images will be punished.

The Take It Down Act is the first proposed legislation by Congress to require Big Tech to put a process in place to remove these images.

Senator Cruz hopes to pass the legislation this year. The bill has bipartisan support and is co-sponsored by Democratic Senator, Amy Klobucher of Minnesota. Right now, he doesn’t know if Big Tech will oppose the legislation.

Let us pray that there will be no opposition to this commonsense and much-needed legislation to protect us from from the harm of deepfake AI-generated pornography. Let us pray for its swift passage, for the deepfake images to miraculously disappear from social media platforms, and for a powerful move of God among the youth of this nation.

How are you praying about AI, deepfakes, and the next generation?

Belinda Brewster analyzes cultural, political, and world events from a biblical worldview. Belinda’s passion is to equip, support, and encourage parents and grandparents who are courageously battling against the spiritual and cultural forces impacting children and grandchildren. Photo credit: Getty Images.